WordPress diagnosis
WordPress speed optimization service: what your slow site really costs
Six technical causes explain nearly every WordPress slowdown that costs sales. They are set out below, with the way to check each one yourself and the point at which a rebuild costs less than the fixes. If you would rather we looked for you, the assessment is free and with no commitment, within two business days.
- Free and with no commitment.
- No access and no password needed (we analyze from the outside).
- If your site is not a good candidate, we tell you.
- The work itself: from $1,800, depending on the size of the site.
Note: une boutique en ligne (eCommerce) nécessite des calculs à chaque visite et n'est pas candidate à l'accélération statique. See our approach for an online store.
Got it
We are analyzing your site. You will have our written opinion within two business days. If we need a technical detail, we will write to you before then.
Would you rather talk it through?Book a 30-minute call with a partner, at a time that suits you.
The diagnosis
Six causes explain nearly every drop in conversion
In the order we meet them. Each one can be checked by you, without access to your server.
- 01
A saturated shared host
The most common cause, and the least suspected. On a plan costing a few dollars a month, your site shares a server with hundreds of others. Response time collapses at peak hours, exactly when your visitors arrive.
How to check: measure the server response time (TTFB) at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, then at 9 p.m. on a Sunday. A threefold gap points at the hosting, not at your site. Above 600 ms, it is already too slow.
- 02
Images served at their original size
A 4 MB photo displayed in a 400-pixel square is still a 4 MB photo to download. It is often half the weight of a home page, and it is the most profitable fix of the lot.
How to check: right-click an image, “open image in a new tab”, and look at its real dimensions. If they are more than twice the displayed size, you have your first cause.
- 03
Too many plugins, and two doing the same job
Every plugin adds requests and code to load. The problem is not their number in itself, it is the pile-up: two competing cache tools, three block libraries of which one is used, a page builder loading all its modules on every page.
How to check: count the active plugins. Past twenty-five, there are almost always duplicates. Look first for two plugins whose names contain “cache” or “optimize”.
- 04
A heavy theme, or a page builder
The all-purpose themes sold on marketplaces carry dozens of templates, of which you use one. The browser downloads them anyway. Visual builders add their own layer on top.
How to check: does the total weight of a simple page, without images, go past 1 MB? If it does, the theme or the builder is the reason.
- 05
No cache, or a cache set up badly
Without a cache, WordPress rebuilds every page on every visit, querying the database each time. With a badly set cache, it rebuilds them anyway, while letting you believe otherwise.
How to check: load a page twice in a row. If the second time is not markedly faster, the cache is not protecting your display times.
- 06
Third-party scripts that block the display
Consent banner, chat, map, advertising pixels, fonts loaded from another domain. Each one adds a network negotiation before the browser can show anything at all.
How to check: count the third-party domains your home page calls. Past five, every new service costs more in speed than it returns.
When a rebuild starts costing less than the fixes
The question is not whether the site can be made faster, it is whether making it faster costs less than rebuilding it. Three signals tip the balance towards a rebuild.
- Causes 03 and 04 are both present. A heavy theme plus a page builder is a debt paid on every single change.
- The site has already been “optimized” twice. Layers of optimization piled on each other end up contradicting each other, and untangling them costs more than rebuilding.
- The site has to change anyway. If a rebuild is planned within twelve months, the fixes are money lost twice.
In every other case, a slow WordPress site can be repaired, often for a fraction of the price of a rebuild. That is exactly what the assessment settles.
What we look at in your site
Here are the four things we look at to rule on your site and on what speeding it up can return.
- 01
Le temps de chargement réel
Mesuré sur de véritables connexions mobiles, là où la lenteur coûte le plus de ventes.
- 02
Ce qui pèse inutilement
Le thème lourd, les extensions accumulées, les scripts tiers qui bloquent l'affichage et coûtent des conversions.
- 03
Les signaux vitaux de Google
Ce que Google observe de votre site et qui freine votre référencement.
- 04
Le potentiel d'accélération statique
Peut-on retirer les calculs inutiles pour servir vos pages nettement plus vite ?
What you receive
A clear written diagnosis
The diagnosis
What is slowing your site down, named precisely, with the numbers behind it: what weighs, and by how much.
The answer
Can your site be made markedly faster without a full rebuild? Yes or no. If the answer is yes, we give you the exact cost. If it is no, as with eCommerce stores, we point you to the approach that suits your situation.
The investment
The work is offered from $1,800, depending on the size of the site. The assessment gives you the exact time and cost, with no commitment on your side.
Two business days. Written by one of the two partners.
Your questions before you submit
Is the assessment really free?
Yes. You get a written opinion within 48 hours. If your site is not a good candidate for acceleration, we say so plainly, and bill nothing.
Do you need administrator access?
No. We assess the public performance of your site, exactly as Google and your customers see it. No password is needed.
Is this going to break my site?
No risk at all. The assessment is entirely external: we look at your site like any other visitor. If you then decide to go ahead, all the work happens on a secure copy, without interrupting your sales: your WordPress stays in place and a fast copy is what the public is served.
Why leave online stores out?
Carts need calculations in real time: inventory, shipping prices, customer account. Static acceleration does not suit them. Online retail calls for another approach.
If we go ahead, how long does it take?
A few days for a service site, rather than the weeks a rebuild takes. We give you the exact schedule in the assessment, once we have seen what your site holds.
To understand the approach before you ask:the other road besides a rebuild, on the Website design page.
